Delivery: 10
Before I begin this review, GO BUY THIS BOOK RIGHT NOW!!! If you have not read it, you should. If you do not like reading tutorials on selling, this is the book for you. Instead of having the author talking at the reader, in High Probability Selling, Jacques Werth and Nicholas E. Ruben instead choose to tell you a quaint story about a struggling sales representative that is hired by a packaging company and is taught their system. The book is barely 200 pages, and if it were not for the oversized font on the small pages, it may have been less than 100. The majority of the book reads like the dialog of a play. It is two people talking about sales, then eventually a sales rep and a prospect conversing. These factors make it an unbelievably easy read, yet in this simple format and short story, THEY DELIVER AN AMAZING SET OF PROCESSES FOR BECOMING HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL.
Concept: 8
The only reason their concept did not get a 10 is that it was designed for a saturated industry where tendencies lead to working with middle management. It did not lend itself to working in two of my favorite roles.
1. Start-ups or emerging technologies – To completely relate to the story in this wonderful book, you work in a saturated market where the prospect understands what you are offering and your unique positioning. It leaves no room for education of evangelizing. While I can see that they may have trainings facing these markets, or may argue that the high probability prospects will already understand if they are really high probability prospects, I suggest that their style would have to adapt to a process that allows for teaching.
2. Working with the top level executives in major corporations –I would say their frank style, accompanied with the mindset of letting the prospect disqualify themselves at any stage would fare well with the executive prospect. What I think would not work is the simple prospecting style of asking what they have is something they are interested in or not. The top executives will not be listening. Without grabbing their attention with DATA, or RELATING SUCCESS WITH PEOPLE THEY CARE ABOUT, you can more or less forget working with them.
Message: 9
Here it is in a nutshell, and I almost feel you should not be allowed to read my opinions before you read the book.
1. Only work with people that are trustworthy, willing to work on your terms, open up and share information, and allow you to talk to all of the people involved in the decision making process.
2. DISQUALIFY EVERYONE ELSE!
3. Make sure you treat your prospects as people. Get to know them on a personal level, before, during, and after the sales engagement.
4. Work with authenticity. You cannot work this process if you do not sincerely want to learn about the people you are prospecting. You cannot work this process if you are not trustworthy.
5. Before you move from one stage to another in the process, review the conditions set to get there. They call these the Conditions of Commitment and the Conditions of Satisfaction. If you truly engage with people in this manner, you will close AN AMAZINGLY HIGHER PERCENTAGE OF YOUR OPPORTUNITES!
Again, the message is fantastic. I have a couple of concerns about the abruptness in the language. While, I know it is merely examples, the harshness in the style will turn off many people. My suggestion would be to adapt the philosophy of the communication, but make the style a bit more embracing. Always allow for prospects, opportunities, and potential customers to opt out of the sales process, but do it in a manner that shows them a bit more respect than the dialog in this book.
For the younger sales person here are two important points. It is critical to remove the “pitch” from your sales habits. This is one of the greatest lessons of this book.
1. If you have to convince someone that what you are offering is what you say it is, you are dealing with a low probability prospect.
2. Everyone slips up, even the most talented and experienced of people. Michael Jordan shot a few air balls and had some turnovers, Tiger hits balls into the rough, Bill Clinton puts his foot in his mouth, Rosie fails as a magazine mogul, and you will screw up and slip back into bad habits. So what, move on.
Overall score: 9
READ THIS BOOK, READ THIS BOOK, STOP READING MY BLOG AND DO READ THIS BOOK.
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